The present invention relates to a drive system for a variable camber aircraft wing having position variable front flaps and/or rear flaps, having drive shafts arranged such that the flaps undergo a change of position in operation of the drive shafts, and having one or more drive units in driving connection with the drive shafts.
One reason for the use of variable camber aircraft wings is that a reduction in fuel consumption can be achieved by the possibility of varying the wing camber. The variation of the wing camber can be achieved, for example, by adjustment of the landing flaps in a positive and negative vertical direction around the retracted position. It is feasible for the inner and outer landing flap pairs to be adjusted differently so that different profiles result in the span direction. For this purpose, the transmission train between the inner and outer landing flaps must be separated and the drive for the outer shaft train must be coupled in.
A system of the initially named kind is known, for example, from DE 103 61 891 A1. A drive system can be seen from this reference in which the drive shafts of adjacent flaps are coupled via a differential gear which is connected to a central drive, on the one hand, and to a secondary drive, on the other hand. The speed of the drive shaft forming the output of the differential gear depends on the input speeds of the central drive as well as of the secondary drive and is thus largely independent of the speed of the drive shaft driven by the central drive.